Signs of Spring!

Whoo Hoo, what a beautiful day we had today!!!

This post is mostly about signs of spring so I will start with that - stay with me though, I have some pretty cool wood splitting pictures coming up too.

First - sign of spring... pre-season baseball!!! (and check out that 45 degree temp reading!!!

The view from the milking stand still has a lot of snow in it but it's gone down quite a bit.

The driveway is dirt (and mud) again.

 The garden is emerging.

And baby lettuces are under the lights in the basement.  

Peanut is setting - she only has four eggs under there.  That is my fault, she kept laying eggs and it was too early so I would take them and we ate them.  When we decided it was probably OK for her to start setting, I stopped taking them and she started setting just a few days later!  I should have kept some of her eggs instead of eating them but I guess I thought she would lay until she had a good clutch.   Not so. 

Last month's post had big doe bellies in it - well, here they are again, but bigger.  Vinca gets around fine but her steps are ponderous and she definitely isn't frolicking around!

In other goat news, Tamarack has hurt his ankle and isn't bearing much weight on it - at first we just wrapped it but it seemed to need more support so we have him splinted now. 

A Spot update:  The antibiotic shot only lasted two weeks. She went back for another one which also lasted two weeks.  Now we are trying twice a week pills.  They go down much easier that I thought they would and she loves the follow-up treat. I guess I would say that she is doing OK for now.  In the photo she is on her grooming table (aka the washing machine) - the daily brushing  has improved her coat tremendously.  

I went out to the woodworking area to help with splitting today.  The woods are always beautiful; though winter might seem stark I really enjoy looking through the trees.  Every step presents a new image of light and shadow. 

It was pretty muddy - make that VERY muddy out where the guys were working!

Now for the wood splitting. The splitter we use has a blade that cuts both ways and is impressively powerful.  The guys have the system down and it's really efficient, even more so if there is a third person there to run the back and forth handle.  That was me today.  I could not believe the huge chunk of oak they put on.  The first photo is from the side where I was, then I went around to the other side for a better look at the process.  

After the first split, that smaller piece took eight more splits to finish, then they were on to the bigger part.

Can I just say how amazing Rollie is?  He had a bit of a health scare last week and was in the hospital for a several nights - you sure cannot tell by how hard he was working today!
 
Well, I think that is enough for tonight.   Thank you for stopping by the blog - until next time, be well friends. 

Winter Goings On

Well, it's been quite a while since my last post on this blog - over a month so I had better put something on here before everyone forgets about it!  Since it's been over a month we've had the whole gamut of winter weather - from more snow, to a warm up then cold and a very once in a while the sun shines.  Currently we are dealing with ice.

This was January 18th, after a significant snowfall

The current state of our driveway

Kevin and Rollie continue to work in the woods as much as possible.  Kevin is generally the one cutting down the trees.  He is very safety conscious and wears chainsaw chaps, ear protection, a hard hat and a face shield.

Rollie pulls the trees and logs out to the work area.  Today they were working on a pretty big oak.

Getting the log hooked up with a choker

Rollie puts it in position near the pile

And then turns the tractor around and skillfully rolls it up to the pile with the front tires!

Out in the barn the does are showing their pregnancies.  Vinca is in her seventh and final pregancy and is truly enormous considering she has several more weeks to go. I sure hope there are only two kids in there!

Echo is merely well rounded by comparison.

The chickens are doing fine - although a couple of them think it's time to be broody.  I tell them sorry, not yet Ma'am and take the eggs away.

 When it is sunny, some of the hens like to go over and dust bathe in the loose dirt in the woodshed.

We haven't had a cat in the house for a quite while now, Lily left us some months back and we just weren't ready.  I was just starting to think about adopting a young cat but that is on hold now that Spot has moved in.

Spot lived out in the shop (heated) and as an elderly kitty just hadn't been taking very good care of herself .  Her fur was getting clumpy and she was losing weight.  Then she had a wound on her face.  I took her to the vet to have that looked at and it turned out to be an abscessed tooth, poor thing.  An antibiotic shot seems to have taken care of it. She also has some other old cat issues so would not be a candidate for dentistry.   After seventeen years as a barn/shop cat, she now lives in the house.  She adapted to the change with little fuss and pretty much stays in the kitchen and the laundry area where her food and litter box are.  This is a good thing as I have never known a cat that sheds as much as she does, she has always been that way.  Most of her shed hair ends up on the two rugs that she favors.  I am also brushing her daily which helps.  She is doing much better and seems to have put on some weight.

I will try not to stay away from the blog for so long - spring is coming after all and things will be changing - thank goodness!  Until next time, be well friends!

Winter Wood Work

It's been about a month since the last post here.  In that time we have had a couple of holidays and some crummy weather.  You locals know all about it - lots of snow, cold, more snow, then rain that froze - what a slushy mess to clear up - heavy stuff! 

A few years ago, one of my very first blog posts was called Rescuing the Avalanche Victims - or something like that.  The snow comes off the north roof of the pole barn and blocks the little goat door.  That year I had to tunnel them out and it took  most of a day.  This time wasn't that bad.

Before - trapped in the shed

After my work

Vinca, Echo, and Hickory came out, looked around and went back in.  They sure look grungy compared to the white snow - especially Hickory - He reminds me of a polar bear on the ice cap.

Poppy and Tamarack didn't get blocked in but when the snow came down on the south side of the hayshed, they got a big ridge of hard packed snow to play on.  Thankfully, they didn't figure out that they could have easily jumped over it and gotten into all kinds of mischief.

Since those pictures were taken, we have done some rearranging.  Tamarack and Poppy have moved back in with Vinca and Echo. Hickory moved into their pen after Kevin and Bob(cat) dug that snow away. 

Rafael and the hens, and the turkeys Tom and Peanut have been getting outside some too. 

The hens are laying very satisfactorily now, and Peanut has been laying an egg every other day too!

Three new hens came to our place from friends Bonnie and Duane - they are Buckeyes saved from Bonnie's canner.   

Buckeyes are a heritage breed of chicken originating in (of course) Ohio. They are said to be quite docile, cold hardy, and good mousers!  Rafael is also a Buckeye.

Hoover and I have been walking the logging trails on the weekends.  He has to be on a leash to prevent him from following the deer trails and potentially chasing them.  He enjoys our outings anyway.

As usual in the winter, the guys are putting in a lot of time in the woods.  Usually Kevin cuts the trees down and Rollie pulls them out to an area where they can be cut up.  Some of the lengths are cut up with the buzz saw, and the bigger pieces need to be split.  Team work gets it done more efficiently. 

We will have a post again in a few weeks - by then we will really be looking forward to Spring I am sure.  Until then, be well friends!

Digging Out

To start the post, and update from Kevin and the hunting party. As a group of 9 we filled 7 tags with 2 bucks, 3 does, and 2 fawns. We did not see the amount of deer as we have in past years, and from the reports we hear from others we had great success. We decided after the second weekend to be done. We will see how the deer do over the winter now.


Sorry about the fuzziness of some of the pictures in this post - guess I was in a hurry!

As most of you know, Thanksgiving was followed up by a pretty major snowstorm in our area.  We estimate anywhere from 18 to 24 inches at our farm.  The wind really piled the snow up in places so it is pretty hard to be accurate on that.

The snow got started early on Saturday.

By late morning today it was done and the clean-up began.  Kevin spent the entire day plowing, pushing, and piling snow.  Thank goodness for Bob - he earned his keep today!

I got reacquainted with the shovel.  I worked on the front deck and then shoveled a path the the back door of the Winter Coop.  Later this afternoon I spread some straw out there to entice the poultry out. 

 Tom and Peanut were disinclined to exit.

Good news from the coop - the hens are picking up their egg production - 15 eggs today - we haven't had that many for a long, long time.

Tamarack and Poppy were snug in their little house through the storm but their outdoor quarters filled up deep.  They are made of sterner stuff than their mama though (prima donna Vinca does not care to get her feet wet!)- they waded right out when I came out to shovel. 

After clearing away much of the snow, Kevin threw some straw out to make their place a little more comfortable.

In the big shed, quite a bit of snow was blown in the little goat door.  It is unusual for so much to come in on the north side - there is also a solid fence just a few feet away.  The wind was going every direction it seemed.  Fortunately we have expanded the goat area and Vinca, Echo, and Hickory have plenty of snow free space.

Sunset was brief but beautiful this evening.  

 Thank you for visiting our blog.  Until next time, be well friends!